Lincoln authorities unmoved by cancer angle in documentary

Hundreds of area residents attended free screenings Sunday and Monday of the National Geographic Channel documentary “Lincoln’s Secret Killer?” at the Orpheum Theatre. In addition to feeding the audience’s craving for Abraham Lincoln, attendees also enjoyed seeing the Orpheum Th...

By ERIN McCARTHY

The Register-Mail

By ERIN McCARTHY

Posted Feb. 26, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Feb 26, 2011 at 8:20 AM

By ERIN McCARTHY

Posted Feb. 26, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Feb 26, 2011 at 8:20 AM

GALESBURG

Hundreds of area residents attended free screenings Sunday and Monday of the National Geographic Channel documentary “Lincoln’s Secret Killer?” at the Orpheum Theatre.

In addition to feeding the audience’s craving for Abraham Lincoln, attendees also enjoyed seeing the Orpheum Theatre on the silver screen, as it was chosen as the filming location for the Lincoln assassination scenes.

Whether the documentary holds any significance to historians or biographers, however, remains to be seen.

The film documents obscure diagnosis expert Dr. John Sotos’ journey as he seeks to prove that Lincoln was already dying of a rare, inherited cancer long before he was assassinated.

“The idea he must have had something wrong with him medically is an idea constantly brought forward,” said Doug Wilson, co-director of the Knox College Lincoln Studies Center and professor emeritus. “This is not so much an historical question as a medical question. In terms of what historians concern themselves with, they wouldn’t want to spend much time on it.”

Throughout the film, a number of “the world’s greatest researchers” investigate historical relics stained with Lincoln’s blood in search of the DNA that could validate Sotos’ suspicions, but in the end **SPOILER ALERT** his theory is neither proven nor disproved.

Still, Wilson said Sotos’ research is not a waste of time.

“I wouldn’t discourage anybody from any research,” said Wilson. “It’s like inventions, and how even the inventions that sound like they’re crazy sometimes have world-shaking results.

“I think it’s interesting, and I’m glad they’re looking into any idea, but unless there’s something really compelling, most of these things just come and go.”

David Blanchette, communications manager at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, reiterated Wilson’s sentiment, saying that “in the grand scheme of things,” it doesn’t actually matter to historians whether Lincoln had cancer.

Blanchette did however mention one group to whom it would matter.

“If people who are suffering from cancer can believe Lincoln, too, had cancer and still achieved greatness, that can only be a positive thing,” said Blanchette. “Whether he had it or not, Lincoln’s a hero for many reason, and if that brings hope to those who have cancer, it definitely has merit.”

At the very least, Blanchette said he approves of anything that increases public interest in Lincoln.